Page 18 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

He thinks she slept with me for a grade? He’d just said that Penny was smart and had good grades. She didn’t need to do that. What kind of shit detective was this guy?

"What? No,” Penny said firmly.

"What kind of arrangement did you two have exactly?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Was it for the presents? Or maybe you weren't doing as well this semester. You have a C average in your statistics class right now.”

That was because I was distracting her. Not the other way around.

“Did you do it for the grades?" he pushed.

"Do what exactly?" she said.

"Did he, or did he not, agree to give you an A in his class if you gave him sexual favors?"

She stood up. "I think you should go."

"So it's true, is it?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about. We never did anything that we didn't both want to do. James is a good guy."

"Good professors don't sleep with their students."

"Tim." Detective Turner had finally spoken. He put his hand on Detective Reed's chest, as if holding him back. "Why don't you let me take it from here." Detective Turner gestured toward the couch.

Detective Reed nodded and sat down on the sofa. I stared at Detective Turner, who was now smiling. I was a little surprised by the sudden change. Were they seriously trying to good cop, bad cop Penny?

“Amateur move,” Ian said.

I nodded. “Agreed.” They knew that Penny got good grades. But they hadn’t done enough research to know that she loved T.V. She knew this move and she wasn’t going to fall for this shit.

"Please, Penny, take a seat," Detective Turner said. "I'm sorry about my partner's outburst."

Penny sighed and sat down as far away from Detective Reed as possible.

I smiled to myself.

"You said you have nothing to hide," Detective Turner said.

"I don't."

"Would it surprise you, then, if James was hiding something from you?"

“Do you think he knows about the cameras?” Ian said. Something started crunching on his end.

“No. He’s just making something up to push on her nerves. And are you eating popcorn right now?”

“Shh,” he said. “I’m enjoying the show.”

I knew he ate popcorn while he watched us!

Penny just glared at the detective.

He put his hands in his pockets as he studied her face. "It wouldn't, would it? I've heard that James is quite a complicated man."

"And who did you hear that from? His ex-wife?"

Detective Turner smiled again. "It's not too late, you know. If you're willing to cooperate with us, we can give the First State scholarship committee a call. Maybe we can get them to reissue that scholarship of yours."

"If I cooperate?"

"Yes. You see, we are building a case against James regarding sexual misconduct."

"I'm not going to lie in order to get my scholarship back. Like you said, I'm a good girl. Besides for that fact, you have it all wrong."

"Unfortunately we don't. We do want to help you, Penny. But we don't actually need your statement. Yes, it'll help, but I think we already have everything we need."

"What do you mean?"

"Two girls have already come forward saying that James agreed to give them As for sexual favors."

What? Who the fuck said that?!

"They're lying,” Penny said firmly.

"And how sure are you of that? Because Tim and I are trained to tell if suspects are lying. These girls didn't seem like they were lying. Actually, they were both in tears. They were embarrassed and ashamed because of the position that their trusted professor put them in."

Go eat each other’s nuts.

"I don't believe you,” Penny said.

"And their stories lined up. They both said that James lured them into his office to dispute a poor grade. And that he agreed to change it only if they agreed to have sex with him."

Penny didn’t respond.

Because…isn’t that what I’d done to her? Kind of? What the fuck? How could these detectives possibly know that? And how had the two girls that lied found out about it?

"Does that sound familiar, Penny? Did he do that to you too?"

"No. It wasn't like that."

"How about you tell us what really happened. And we'll get that scholarship back for you. Your life will go back to normal. All of this will disappear."

"I think this discussion is over." She stood up again.

"Don't you want your old life back? We can give you back what you lost. Stop defending him. Can't you see what he's taken from you?"

"I'm not defending him, I'm telling you the truth."

"He's not who you think he is."

"Yes he is." Her face was flushed. And for the first time it wasn’t because she was embarrassed or turned on. She was…angry. She was losing her temper.

"He's a predator, Penny. And you're the prey. Don't you see that? Those two other girls were his prey too. Who knows how many others didn't come forward? You're probably one of a dozen. You can't hide from the truth. He seduces students. He's not a good man."

I’d thought that before. That I was the hunter and she was my prey. But only with her . Only ever her. I knew I’d crossed the line as her professor. I knew I was fucked up in the head. But it was only ever her.

"Get out of my apartment,” Penny said.

I wanted to go out there and hug her. She’d called this apartment ours. And she was defending me. Even though part of what they were saying was true.

"Your apartment? Is that the deal then? The gifts, the apartment? Is that to keep you quiet?"

"You're terrible detectives," she snapped.

"We're trying to protect you."

"Protect me? I don't need your protection. I wanted this relationship just as much as he did. I love him." She put her hand on the center of her chest. As if they should be able to so clearly see her heart. Too bad they were blind.

"He doesn't love you."

"Yes he does."

“Arrogant assholes,” Ian said through a mouthful of popcorn. “It’s obvious that the two of you are in love if they spend two minutes watching you.”

I tried to focus on the screen.

"Do you even know anything about him?” the detective said. “Do you know that he has a criminal record? Do you know that he's spent time in jail? This is the kind of thing he does. This is the kind of thing that a bored man with too much money and no sense of morals does."

"If you both don't leave right now, some of your detective buddies will actually have a crime to solve."

Oh, fuck. Penny. Don’t threaten them.

Ian coughed on his popcorn. “She’s as bad as you.”

Yeah. Penny looked so pissed. I smiled at the screen. That’s my girl.

"Did you just threaten us?" Detective Reed stood up. "You do know that it's illegal to threaten a police officer?"

"Oh, I didn't realize you were police officers. I really couldn't tell. All you're doing is throwing out accusations without any evidence."

Ian and I both laughed.

"Consider this a warning, Miss Taylor. We will be in contact again. This is far from over."

She didn’t respond. She just watched them walk over to the elevator, step in, and disappear.

“That was kind of amazing to watch,” Ian said. “Uh oh.”

“What?”

“She’s heading to the freezer. Women going to the freezer means ice cream. Which means she’s upset.”

Yeah. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. How did the detectives know about Penny coming to my office? And who the hell were the other girls that came forward with those lies?

“Nope,” Ian said. “She’s more upset than ice cream. That’s not good.”

I stared at the screen. Penny had grabbed a bottle of vodka that I’d hidden from Ellen in the back of the freezer. What was she doing?